People Before Profit blog

Stella D'Oro strike continues, support grows

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:52:00 +0000

BRONX, N.Y. -- Over a hundred members of the NY State United Teachers and the PSC (Professional and Staff Congress -- CUNY) joined Stella D'Oro bakery workers on their picket line in the northwest Bronx here on April 27. They added their signs and chants to the signs and American flag of the 136 members of Local 50 of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers International Union, who have been on strike since last August.

A busload of NYSUT members arrived to personally deliver the check for $2,500 they had voted to contribute to the strike fund.

President of the PSC Barbara Bowen was joined by others from her union in the spirited show of support. PSC members have been actively supporting the strike for many months.

Joyce Alston, president of the bakery union, was a guest speaker recently at the meeting of NW Bronx for Change, a group that formed out of the Obama campaign.

'Brynwood Partners (limited equity firm that owns Stella D'Oro) have no long-term attachment to the bakery, they want to make money and sell it off.'

Alston said it was 'imperative to win' at the upcoming National Labor Relations Board hearing, which will determine whether Brynwood Partners can permanently replace the strikers. She said the workers have remained united, despite having been out for almost 8 months, without health care and living on their strike benefits. 'Lots of unions are coming in to give support and solidarity.'

Alston, who also addressed the March meeting of the Ben Franklin Reform Democratic Club, said, 'At the May 12 hearing, the judge needs to see that the community is interested in what takes place.'

The strike was triggered by Brynwood's extreme contract demands, which included a wage cut of $5 for 2/3 of the workforce, cuts in health care, elimination of 12 sick days, four paid holidays and one week of vacation, and replacing of the pension plan with a 401K. For more information, go to the union's website,

Donations to the strike fund can be sent to 'BCTGM Local 50 Strike Fund,' 145 Talmadge Road, Suite 17, Edison, NJ 08817 (write 'Stella D'Oro workers' on your check.)

Heartbeat of America on life-support: How did we get here, and now what?

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:02:00 +0000

DETROIT — In 1970, the United Auto Workers had 395,000 hourly workers at General Motors plants, but two years from now that number will have plummeted to 38,000.

How did we get to this point?

Long before the current crisis, GM and Ford began exporting jobs and capital to all corners of the globe. The popular Ford Fusion is assembled outside the U.S., as will be the much-hyped Ford Fiesta slated to arrive here next year. GM is moving production of the Cadillac SRX SUV out of the country. This week we heard the announcement that Detroit-based American Axle will be moving almost all of its production to Mexico.

As GM and Ford set up shop all over the world, auto producers from other countries are doing likewise in the United States — but these are nonunion operations paying their workers far less than what UAW-represented autoworkers won through decades of struggles and collective bargaining. Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Subaru are among those that already have or are building assembly plants here. Volkswagen is building a new, billion-dollar plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., that will have cars on the market by 2012.

While the U.S. auto companies complain about competition from lower-wage countries, they in turn threaten their workers in Mexico, Thailand, South America and elsewhere to accept low wages as a condition of work. In contract negotiations with 4,500 employees at the Ford Fiesta plant in Mexico last summer, Ford gave an ultimatum to the union there: accept a two-tier starting wage cut of 50 percent — bringing it down to $2.25 an hour — or the company would move production out of the country.

Under capitalism, cars are built for profit and companies will build them where the profit is greatest. Free trade agreements, advances in technology, a weakening of the labor movement and the quest for cheap labor all made it easier to export jobs and move production to nonunion areas of our country.

An industry that once was almost all union and based in Michigan and other northern states is now moving south and becoming nonunion. Though labor costs are less than 10 percent of the cost of producing a car, the pressure from those nonunion plants increases the pressure on unionized workers to give up even more than the mammoth concessions they have already given.

The long-term — and short-term — idiocy of this policy is that cutting the wages of workers and will only prolong and deepen the economic crisis. To solve the economic crisis we need to put more money, not less, into the hands of working people. But capitalism does not operate through logic.

The just-announced tentative UAW agreement with Chrysler — in which half the money the company owes to the union-run retiree health care fund will be paid in stock — is a gamble (albeit one the union probably had little choice in accepting). If Chrysler goes into bankruptcy, retiree health benefits won over years of struggle would likely be lost.

This deal, if it goes through, which is highly uncertain, reportedly could give the union a voice on the board, but it would be far short of decision-making control over the company.

The crisis hitting auto workers and their communities is hurricane-like — with the worst effects hitting the racially oppressed. But unlike Katrina, we are not caught totally off guard. We can take steps to lessen the impact. And we can start working on long-term solutions. But fast action is necessary.

* Passing the Employee Free Choice Act to make it more possible to organize workers in nonunion plants, and winning nation health care, not dependent on employers, are more important than ever.

* If auto plants cannot be kept open for production of cars, they should be kept open to produce other things we need.

Certainly mass transit is one. Why can’t auto plants in Michigan be retooled to make passenger rail cars for the high-speed lines the president recently proposed?

Shouldn’t the president’s auto task force or Ed Montgomery, the administration’s point person on dealing with distressed communities, require that stimulus money be used to retool plants to produce wind turbines, solar panels, materials to weatherize our homes and offices and other products needed to rebuild and “green” our infrastructure?

In the buildup to World War II, plants were quickly retooled to support the war. No less an effort is needed today to make our economy “green,” carbon-free, and our nation energy independent.

Many are raising these same ideas, but what is missing is a broad movement organized at the grassroots to give people a say in their own future. Workers, the communities they live in and the political leaders they elect all have a stake in coming together to find solutions that will benefit America’s working class majority.

While it is fortunate we have a president who wants to help working families, such a movement would insure the Obama administration and all other political leaders take the necessary steps to save our livelihoods, our families and our communities.

John Rummel (jrummel @ pww.org) writes for the People’s Weekly World from Michigan.

May Day march planned to support immigrant and worker rights

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 01:21:00 +0000

MINNEAPOLIS - The Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Coalition and the May 1st Coalition will host the annual March for Immigrant and Workers' Rights on Friday, May 1, in Minneapolis.

The march starts at 4 p.m. at Lake Street and 13th Avenue (at Spirit of the Lakes Church), and ends with a street festival from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at 29th and Nicollet (behind the Kmart).

“Come support immigrant and workers' rights at this most critical time!” organizers said.

The Minneapolis event is expected to be one of scores across the nation to call attention to the need for stronger rights for all workers – documented or undocumented.

Faith community delivers strong message for Employee Free Choice

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 01:16:00 +0000

Original source:

Across a wide variety of denominations and faith, dozens of religious groups have come out in support of the Employee Free Choice Act, united in their belief that the Employee Free Choice Act is a critical reform to rebuild a fair economy and restore to all workers the dignity and freedom they deserve.

Calling the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act a “moral responsibility,” Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) and 38 other faith-based organizations, representing a broad and diverse coalition, sent a joint letter to members of the U.S. Senate and House asking Congress to act now and pass laws to protect workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain. The Employee Free Choice Act, they say, will strengthen not only individual workers, but families, communities and the economy that sustains us all.

The Employee Free Choice Act presents us with an opportunity to pass legislation that is at once economically and morally efficacious for the people of our nation and our economy. Even as unions serve as vehicles by which poor workers lift themselves from poverty and into the middle class, the increased purchasing power of union members provides an effective and consistent stimulus for the general economy.

When workers form unions, they have an opportunity to empower themselves and provide security for their families….At its best, a union is a community of women and men devoted to one another’s wellbeing and dignity, working together to secure their rights as employees, as human beings, and as children of God.

The letter critiques the current status quo of labor law, which gives corporations too much power and subjects workers to abuses. This imbalance hurts workers and the economy, and the faith leaders say that the Employee Free Choice Act is a “sound and vitally necessary” change to the law in favor of workers.

This week, more religious groups have come on board in support of the Employee Free Choice Act:

* Alliance of Baptists * American Baptist Churches USA * American Islamic Congress * Church of the Brethren * Disciples Justice Action Network (Disciples of Christ) * Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns * Sikh Council on Religion and Education * Uri L’Tzedek (The Orthodox Jewish Social Justice Movement)

In the latest issue of the Boston Review, Nancy MacLean examines in depth the response of the faith community to the Employee Free Choice Act and the economic crisis. MacLean profiles Kim Bobo, executive director of IWJ, and compares the challenges faced by Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to those faced by her Roosevelt-era predecessor, Frances Perkins. MacLean asks vital questions about the role religious groups will play in restoring dignity to workers, not only at the individual level but at the policy level:

…today, as in the 1930s, crisis also creates the opportunity for a bold new direction—a New New Deal, potentially more inclusive of the nation’s diverse labor force than Perkins could have imagined. Might the nation’s churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples again have a role in rescuing a wayward economy?

Many communities of faith are stepping up to take part at this vital moment. The wide support of religious groups shows the passion, conviction and momentum behind the Employee Free Choice Act.

Auto union to take control of Chrysler

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:59:00 +0000

Original source:

US union members are about to take over the massive Chrysler car firm in what would be a stunning blow for rich investors on Wall Street, it was revealed on Tuesday. The United Auto Workers (UAW) union will own 55 per cent of Chrysler and its health-care trust for retired workers will get a seat on the management board if union members vote for the deal this week.

Shopfloor factory reps voted unanimously on Monday night to recommend some concessions that UAW union president Ron Gettelfinger said would help keep the carmaker out of bankruptcy and keep as many as 54,000 workers in their jobs.

Under the deal, Italian car firm Fiat will own 35 per cent of a restructured Chrysler with the remaining 10 per cent stake divided between the US government and banks.

Chrysler is currently surviving on $4 billion (£2.73bn) in US government loans and President Obama has insisted that private investors fund at least 50 per cent of Chrysler's union-run trust fund which provides health care for retired workers.

Union leaders say that ratification votes at car plants across the US should be finished on Wednesday - one day before Chrysler's government-imposed deadline to restructure or receive a cut-off in aid that would send the company into liquidation.

Under the UAW deal reached with Chrysler, Fiat and the US Treasury Department, cost-of-living pay rises will be suspended until 2011, but, after this, a new collective agreement must increase hourly wages to a rate comparable to Chrysler's US competitors, including foreign-owned manufacturers.

'We fought to maintain our wages, our health care and our jobs,' Mr Gettelfinger and UAW vice-president General Holiefield said in a letter to workers.

'In the face of adversity, we negotiated new opportunities for UAW involvement in future business decisions.'

The deal could serve as an example for another agreement with the huge General Motors car firm, which is also receiving cash from the Obama administration.

Labor reacts to Specters switch to the Democratic Party

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:37:00 +0000

The AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation, reacted quickly to the announcement by Pennsylvania’s Republican Senator Arlen Specter that he is switching to the Democratic Party.

“Specter’s vote on the Employee Free Choice Act has been pivotal in determining whether the critical working families’ legislation will pass,” the federation noted in its statement.

“We look forward to continuing an open and honest debate with Senator Specter about the issues that are important to Pennsylvania and America,” said Bill Samuel, the federation’s legislative affairs director.

Samuels noted, however, that the labor movement “will support elected officials based on their positions on issues that matter to working people, not political affiliations.”

Samuels was hopeful about Specter coming around on employee free choice, despite the senator’s statement, when he announced his party affiliation switch, that he would remain opposed to the Employee Free Choice Act.

“Sen. Specter has said all along that he recognizes the need to reform our broken labor law system and labor will continue to work with Congress to give workers back the freedom to form and join unions and pass legislation that stays true to the principals of the Employee Free Choice Act.”

Bill George, president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, told Press Associates today that Specter still had “a way to go” before he could get that group’s endorsement. He noted that although Specter has a 68 percent positive rating by the federation’s Committee on Political Education, “which is good for a Republican,” the federation wants to see him support employee free choice, universal health care and reform of trade pacts that don’t guarantee worker rights.

Samuels, in his statement about Specter’s switch to the Democratic Party, said EFCA is based on three fundamental principles and that he believed a bill that stays true to those principles will be passed.

The first of those is that “workers need to have a real choice to form a union and bargain for a better life, free from intimidation.” The second core principal, he said, is that “we have to stop the endless delays, companies can’t just stall to stop workers’ choice,” and third, “There have to be real penalties for violating the law.”

Some, like Andy Stern, president of SEIU, have suggested that the unions might give up card check, which would require union recognition by the company once a majority of workers sign cards authorizing that representation. Most in the labor movement see that type of compromise as a violation of the core principles outlined by Samuels.

A source in one of the building trades unions told the World that senators have received letters from a union proposing that there could be a box on the authorization card that asks workers whether they want a secret ballot election. Such an election, of course, would have to take place quickly and not allow for company harassment of workers that now often occurs. This type of compromise would apparently not violate any of the core principals laid out by Samuels and would give Specter who says he opposes the bill as it is now written and other senators sitting on the fence room to come out in favor of it.

Workers and immigrants will march on May Day

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 06:09:00 +0000

Yes, workers and immigrants will march again throughout the United States on May Day, May 1st. This is known as the International Workers' Day, but little celebrated in the U.S., at least until the great diversity of immigrants took to the streets in 2006 to advocate opposition to the anti-immigrant legislation HR4437, and subsequent years to advocate for fair and humane immigration reform.

This budding movement of workers and families has resulted in reviving this important and historic date, recognized internationally in memory of the struggle for the eight-hour day more than 100 years ago in this country. Ironically, it was immigrant workers of European origin who led the fight for reducing the work-day, establishing unions, and fighting to improve working and living conditions of the laboring classes.

It is in this same spirit that immigrant and native-born workers march today to demand a stop to ICE raids, the forced separation of families and their deportation; legalization for all those currently undocumented in the U.S.; absolutely no new bracero-type programs, which merely constitute modern-day indentured servitude; approval of the Employee Free Choice Act, which will facilitate the right of all workers to form their free associations - unions - in their work-place with virtually little intimidation; and, ultimately, a fair and humane immigration reform of our current system, policies, and practices.

Today, working communities are facing incredibly unsettling problems of unemployment, home foreclosures, declining wages, consumer debt, increased tuition for education, loss of or complete absence of healthcare, and a dimming economic future. These are challenging times.

Bert Corona used to say that we don't have far to fall when we have already been pushed off the bed and are lying on the floor. Once again we must stand together, march together, and demand a fair share of the wealth that we create for society. This is truly possible in our time!

Saludos on this MAY DAY from MAPA and Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana, and the Hermandad General de Trabajadores Union Internacional/General Brotherhood of Workers International Union.

Nativo Lopez-Vigil is president of Mexican American Political Association. This statement comes from an April 28 MAPA e-mail. For more information: .

Some warn of anti-teacher agenda on school inequities report

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:05:00 +0000

A new report says wide educational achievement gaps hurt our economy and need national attention. But some wonder if the report is being used to advance an anti-teacher-union agenda.

The report, produced by the McKinsey & Co. management consulting firm, is titled, “The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America’s Schools.”

It documents four achievement gaps: (1) between the U.S. and other nations; (2) between black and Latino students and white students; (3) between students of different income levels; and (4) between similar students in different school systems or regions.

“These educational gaps impose on the United States the economic equivalent of a permanent national recession,” the report says.

It goes on to say, “The wide variation in performance among schools serving similar students suggests that these gaps can be closed. Race and poverty are not destiny.”

Joel Klein, the controversial New York City schools chancellor, announced the report’s findings last week at a Washington press conference that was also attended by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel, the Rev. Al Sharpton and others.

Klein and Sharpton are key figures in the Education Equality Project, which promotes heavily private-funded charter schools, and merit pay for teachers based on “performance.”

New York Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez reported April 1 that after the launching of the Education Equality Project last June, “the National Action Network, Sharpton's organization, immediately received a $500,000 donation for its involvement in the new effort.” According to Gonzalez, “The huge infusion of cash — equal to more than a year's payroll for Sharpton's entire organization — was quietly provided by Plainfield Asset Management, a Connecticut-based hedge fund.”

Members of the National Action Network were on the McKinsey report’s steering committee, along with people from Klein’s and Sharpton’s Education Equality Project, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Center for American Progress, which has close ties to the Obama administration. The report’s authors say the report was not “commissioned or financially supported by any business, government, or other institution.”

Klein said the report demonstrated that the root cause of test-score disparities was not poverty or family circumstances, but inferior teachers and principals, according to a report in The New York Times.

NEA head Van Roekel, whose union represents 3.2 million teachers and other educational employees around the country, said the flawed education system — not teachers — should be blamed for the inequites shown in the report. “If we are going to bridge the divide, we've got to look at the entire problem and include everyone in strategizing a solution,” he said later in a press statement.

Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.4-million-member American Federation of Teachers, also challenged the teacher-blaming angle, saying in a statement, “The uninformed and the ideologically driven may use this report as an excuse to attack public schools and propose unproven ‘silver bullets’ to address issues that instead require thoughtful, proven and sustainable reforms.”

The report “rightly points to the possible benefits of developing national standards for what students should learn,” Weingarten said. “But it does little to advance other policies that could transform American education: better access to high-quality early childhood education; comprehensive approaches to attracting and retaining highly skilled teachers; and innovative ideas like community schools that provide wraparound services.”

“What struck me,” a longtime New York City teacher told the World, “was that no documentation is given for the claim that teachers are the cause of the problem.”

The 27-year high school history teacher, now retired and a union activist, said the gaps among New York schools are “gigantic” and obvious “just by walking into the schools,” but “Klein has held the reins here for six or seven years and takes no responsibility.”

Class size has not measurably gone down in years, this teacher said. “All the schools are under-funded, and now they are talking about new cuts.”

The McKinsey report defines “achievement” as “mastery of particular cognitive skills or concepts as measured through standardized tests” — a measure that many educators question.

In the New York school system, the teacher said, “Their only answer is to fire principals and teachers using these test scores. Everyone is being hounded, from the top down. Principals don’t have tenure, so they’re going to pressure teachers.” Students are subjected to standardized tests — “not diagnostic tests to find out what kids need” — around 10 times a year.

“It’s clear what they want,” he said. “Their game plan is to privatize the school system.”

“The charter school push is very strong,” he said. Charter schools get the same public funding as regular public schools but they also get substantial private money, many of them from churches. While unions have begun working with some charter school operators, and some teachers at charter schools have won union contracts, the bulk are nonunion.

In New York, charter schools are proliferating — there are going to be around 100 of them by September, and “there are unions maybe at six of them.” The charters are beginning to take over parts or all of public school buildings, he said.

Claiming to serve areas of greatest need, charters often focus on low-income neighborhoods — in New York, Harlem has the greatest concentration of charters. “It splits the parent movement, and makes it very difficult to organize parents,” the teacher union advocate said.

The other big ploy promoted by Klein, Sharpton and others — merit pay — is also destructive, he said. “What does it say about teachers — they’re into it for the money?” Sowing suspicion over how pay decisions are made and why one teacher is deemed “better” than another, merit pay “sets up a very divisive situation.”

Before the teachers union got started, he noted, high school teachers were paid more than other teachers. “The pay differential divided teachers.”

Today’s teachers work under overwhelming pressures, he said. “Teachers are dropping like flies because of overwork. We lose around 40 percent in the first five years.” But Klein and his managers “don’t worry about that. They just hire tons of new teachers from all over the country — mostly white — and then they’re gone in a few years.”

The union is doing a study on the declining proportion of teachers of color in New York, he said.

Patrick Crowley, assistant director of NEA Rhode Island, told the World: 'It shouldn't surprise anyone that people are looking for easy solutions to sticky problems; addressing poverty and broken families is hard work. But more importantly, there might not be money to be made on ending poverty. Unfortunately, there is money to be made on the privatization of schools, and one of the only obstacles to the selling out of public schools to private interests are teachers and their unions.”

“You can dress it up in whatever language you want,” Crowley said, “but Mr. Klein and the forces he represents are looking for the easiest way to make a buck. And what will their response be? ‘The unions are defending the status quo.’ Baloney. We fight against the education system in this country every day. If you really want to change the public education system, work with us, we're the experts in fighting the system.'

suewebb @ pww.org

Occupational safety and health in times of economic crisis: the need to resist temptation

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:09:00 +0000

Original source: ILO Online

With credit barely flowing and global demand on a downward slide, enterprises around the world are struggling to cope with the global economic crisis. Meanwhile, the numbers of unemployed and working poor are rising. How is the crisis affecting working conditions?

For this year’s World Day for Safety and Health at Work (28 April), ILO Online asks Dr. Sameera Al-Tuwaijiri, director of the ILO’s Safe Work Program, how the crisis may impact on the health and safety of workers.

How is the financial and economic crisis affecting occupational health and safety standards?

First of all, let’s remember that even before the current crisis, globalization had already brought about major changes to workplaces worldwide. Privatization, industrial restructuring, new forms of work organization, the break-up of larger state enterprises and the proliferation of small enterprises – to name just a few of these changes – directly affected employment, industrial relations and, consequently, occupational safety and health (OSH) standards.

Now the global financial crisis has become a factor of concern for the health and safety of workers around the world. On the one hand, workers have to deal with the fear and stress of losing their jobs. At the same time, downsizing production, changing working-time patterns and/or increasing job demands simply to stay in business may have a negative impact. In some cases, we might expect a reduction in resources allocated to safety and health. Enforcement agencies, labour inspectorates and occupational safety and health services may also have to operate with limited resources. The result could be a sharp rise in work accidents, injuries and fatalities and work-related stress.

Do all workers in all workplaces face the same risks? Or are some more at risk than others?

No workplace is immune or free from occupational diseases and accidents. But some are more at risk than others. Micro enterprises in the informal sector – where economic survival is the first priority – tend to lack resources and know-how on OSH management. If they weren’t thinking about OSH issues before the crisis, it’s unlikely they will start doing so now. If more workers take on precarious work and jobs in the informal economy, it stands to reason that there may be more exposures to occupational hazards and risks. Migrants may be more affected than local workers as they are often found in more precarious situations. It is worth pointing out here that the potential impact on the health of workers goes beyond the victims of downsizing or the remaining workers. It also affects workers’ families and the communities where restructuring occurs.

What do you say to the argument that it is better for a company and its workers to concentrate on its own survival, even if there are some reductions in OSH spending?

We would say that this kind of approach will surely backfire in the future. While it is true that the countries should concentrate at the present time on the restoration of sustainable productivity and equity, they need to do this with full respect for labour standards, including those related to occupational safety and health. Only this will ensure that people live socially and economically productive lives. The long-term business viability of enterprises increasingly depends not only on their productivity but also on meeting the legal requirements and social expectations that come with their roles as corporate citizens of the local and international community. This becomes particularly evident in the context of the present financial crisis.

What is the ILO’s message regarding OSH during these times of economic hardship?

That everyone has the right to a safe and healthy working environment. That is what the Decent Work Agenda says and what we deeply believe in. This is especially true in a time of crisis. Social protection should be preserved for the millions of people who have lost, are about to lose or will in the future lose their jobs. Social protection should also be retained for those working extra shifts and overtime to compensate for the diminishing workforce and the increasing workload. The crisis should not be an excuse to lessen decent working conditions, but an opportunity to promote them.

The ILO is the International Labor Organization, created in 1919, as part of the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I, to reflect the belief that universal and lasting peace can be accomplished only if it is based on social justice. The ILO brings together governments, workers and employers, as the world's only tripartite multilateral agency. It is dedicated to bringing decent work and livelihoods, job-related security and better living standards to the people of both poor and rich countries.

GM to make deep cuts, Chrysler and UAW cut deal

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 05:15:00 +0000

General Motors announced, April 27, plans to shut down plants, lay off workers, cut the number of its dealerships in half and eliminate its Pontiac division to meet government insistence that it fundamentally “restructure.”

The announcement came a day after union leaders said they had reached an agreement with Chrysler that meets federal requirements for the automaker to receive additional financing. Fiat, the Italian automaker, participated in making the deal. Chrysler was, in effect, ordered by the government to merge with Fiat before it could receive additional financing.

Neither the UAW or the company would discuss details of the agreement, which, sources say changes the 2007 contract in the company’s favor and cuts the amount of money Chrysler will pay into the newly created health fund for retirees.

Officers at UAW locals will get there first chance to review the amended labor contract late today. Then the agreement will be discussed by the union’s Chrysler Council which is made up of officials from union locals at Chrysler plants. The contract amendments they will examine are said to clear the way for $6 billion in additional federal loans. The company has borrowed $4 billion so far.

By April 30, a simple majority of rank-and-file UAW members must approve the revisions to the Chrysler contract.

In other auto industry developments, newly proposed cuts at GM speed up proposed cuts presented to the Obama administration that were rejected as too small and too gradual when it forced out former Chief Executive Rick Wagoner.

GM, which last week took $2 billion of emergency government loans, bringing its total to $15.4 billion so far, was told by the administration last month to cut more and faster for continued financial help.

GM in the United States will focus on four main brands: Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC. The latest cuts, when added to those already proposed last month, will total $23.2 billion.

The total number of plants in the U.S. will be cut from 47 to 34 and the hourly work force will be cut by 21,000 workers. The number of dealerships will drop from 6,246 to 3,605.

Chrysler, even with its new agreement, will seek bankruptcy protection. The scenario was mapped out with government help and, according to sources, includes “safeguards” designed to protect workers’ benefits.

The plan is for a new company to be established with the “best” assets of Chrysler. Fiat will own a fifth to a third of the new Chrysler and the U.S. government will also hold a significant stake. A portion of the equity in the new company will be given to Chrysler’s creditors as repayment.

Although no-one would comment officially for the union, the UAW had said, before the agreement, that any new deal would have to protect workers’ pensions, even with a bankruptcy filing.

Busloads of Texas CWA members head to Dallas for AT&T meet

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 04:38:00 +0000

Hundreds of CWA members from all over District 6, and some from even further away, are making the trek to Dallas by bus and van, to arrive Friday May 1st, for AT&T's annual shareholder meeting. Members will leaflet outside the meeting, calling attention to the company's demand for huge health care cost shifting and other proposals that will cut workers' standard of living, despite the company's $12.9 billion profit in 2008.

Inside the meeting, CWA District 6 Vice President Andy Milburn will address company executives and shareholders and ask why the company's biggest asset – its employees – are being treated so poorly at the bargaining table.

AT&T's positive financial outlook continued into the first quarter of 2009, with analysts and the company's own executives agreeing that its $3 billion profit beat expectations because of strong growth in video, data

services and wireless, all part of the integrated network supported by CWA members. 'For this economy, it was an outstanding performance,' one analyst said.

'This week's earnings report reinforces the fact that AT&T is well-positioned to lead the telecommunications industry into the future digital age,' CWA President Larry Cohen said. 'AT&T also is well-positioned to help move our nation out of economic crisis and back into prosperity. If successful companies like AT&T don't step up in this economic recession, and instead hide behind it to force more cost shifting to workers, how will our economy recover?' AT&T's demands would double and triple health care costs for some workers.

CWA contracts covering nearly 100,000 workers at AT&T expired April 5 and members have voted to authorize a strike if there is not significant movement at the bargaining tables.

Milburn criticized AT&T for 'dragging its feet in bargaining, its ridiculous take back demands and its comparing AT&T, a company that made $3 billion this first quarter of 2009, to the troubled auto companies. Tomorrow they will hear from the people who build and maintain this network, the people whose work enables this company to move ahead into even newer technologies.' Mark Franken, CWA District 6 administrative director for organizing, said at least 500 CWAers will be rallying outside the meeting, with some planning to go inside and participate.

Congress to hold safety hearings on Workers Memorial Day

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 03:44:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - (PAI) Just over two years ago, in one of the most horrific individual industrial accidents in recent memory, Eleazar Torres Gomez was sucked into a 300-degree industrial dryer at a Cintas laundry plant in Tulsa, Okla., and died.

Torres Gomez was one of several thousand workers killed each year on the job. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, in a rare move during the Bush administration, fined the firm $2.78 million for ignoring the job safety hazards in Tulsa.

As workers nationwide prepare to honor fallen colleagues on Tuesday, April 28, Workers Memorial Day, the new Democratic-run Congress will mark it with hearings on legislation to make fines such as the one Cintas faced the rule, not the exception.

In both the House and Senate, job safety experts and unionists will testify that day about OSHA’s fines and its job safety enforcement record. On Thursday, they’ll talk about whether the Bush OSHA’s “Enhanced Enforcement Program” for the last eight years worked.

That program supposedly targeted the “worst of the worst” – the companies with the worst death and injury rates, such as construction and meatpacking. A report last month by the non-partisan Government Accountability Office revealed that enforcement even in those cases was often lacking.

The objective of the hearings is to build a case for surer and swifter enforcement of job safety and health laws, and to increase the fines. The average OSHA fine, once it finally gets through review and – sometimes – cases, is four figures, not seven.

Those low amounts don’t deter Cintas and other corporate malefactors from their routine way of doing business, in an unsafe manner, the AFL-CIO, Change To Win and their member unions say.

That’s what UNITE HERE President Bruce Raynor said of Cintas, in words that could be applied to many other OSHA cases and fines,.

“Cintas has a shameful pattern of illegally endangering workers’ lives,” UNITE HERE said in a statement after Torres Gomez died. Even after this tragedy, Cintas workers say they continue to work in the same deadly conditions. Cintas should not be able to ignore its moral and legal obligation to provide a safe workplace for all employees.”

Workers skimp on health care while greedy millionaires fight real reform

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 05:51:00 +0000

Original source:

Here’s the latest example of how far corporations will go to stop real health care reform. Rick Scott, a multimillionaire, is putting $5 million of his own fortune into an ad campaign against President Obama’s health care plan. But what Scott doesn’t say in his ads is that he ran a company that had to pay the largest fine in history for Medicare fraud.

According to The New York Times, Scott was ousted as head of Columbia/HCA by his own board of directors in 1997 amid the nation’s biggest health care fraud scandal. The company pleaded guilty and paid $1.7 billion to settle charges, including the overbilling of state and federal Medicare programs.

Scott’s plan for a market-driven health care system likely won’t find much support among the millions of Americans who work every day and have to choose between buying groceries or taking care of serious health issues. Workers like “mosnowbird,” who is losing his sight but can’t afford to visit a doctor.

Responding to the 2009 Health Care for America Survey, sponsored by the AFL-CIO and our community affiliate Working America, mosnowbird writes that despite employer-provided health insurance, “I still can’t afford to have the cost taken out of my check—over $100 a month is too much. Even then, I couldn’t afford the $75 co-pay.”

But the real crime is that like so many of those who can’t afford the health care they need, mosnowbird’s health is suffering for lack of care.

I have uncontrolled high blood pressure. I have done what I can to lower it, but, I am supposed to be taking pills for it. I can’t afford to see the doctor to get the prescription refilled and can’t afford the pills.

I have recently gone blind in my left eye, I don’t know why. [I] can’t afford to see the doctor. I am very scared there might be something seriously wrong, but I can’t [afford to] see [a] doctor. I have to choose between food, rent, utilities or health care. Guess what wins?

Share your experiences with us. People taking the online survey have the option of telling their health care stories in their own words—in writing or in a video. Click here here to take the survey. You also can vote on the story you think should be highlighted.

Among the questions this year’s survey asks are:

* How has the economic downturn affected your household in the past year? * In the past year, have you or has someone in your household lost health coverage because of losing a job or changing jobs? * Are you able to get the health care you need at a price you can afford? * How much did you and your household spend out of your own pockets for health care in the past year?

We plan to share the results of the survey with national and state leaders and the media. Congress, the Obama administration and the media are hearing about health care reform from drug companies and insurance companies. We want to make sure they hear from working families as well.

Union activist appointed to Labor Department

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 01:25:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has appointed a key union activist as senior adviser to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, another sign of the influence that organized labor wields in the Obama administration.

Mary Beth Maxwell spent the past five years as executive director of American Rights at Work, a nonprofit group pushing for passage of a bill to make it easier to form unions.

At the Labor Department, Maxwell will serve as a liaison to the White House Task Force on Middle Class Working Families, a group charged with raising the living standards of middle-class families by improving labor standards, boosting workplace safety and protecting retirement security.

Democratic leaders in Congress hope to bring some version of the Employee Free Choice Act to a vote this summer. Democrats are trying to rally enough votes to overcome an expected GOP filibuster.

Former Democratic Rep. David Bonior, chairman of the board at American Rights and Work, suggested Maxwell's new post would bolster union efforts to pass the labor reform legislation, also known as 'card check.'

'Her knowledge and experience will aid the administration and the Labor Department in supporting this and other policies to benefit working families throughout the country,' Bonior said.

Business groups strongly oppose the card check bill, which would remove the right of employers to demand a secret ballot election before workers could form unions. J. Justin Wilson, managing director of the anti-union group Center for Union Facts said Maxwell's appointment shows 'the outsized influence labor leaders hold over President Obama and the Department of Labor.'

Solis also was a board member of American Rights at Work, a position she left after being confirmed to the president's cabinet.

Labor, allies resolve to line up 60 pro-EFCA votes in the Senate

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 09:21:00 +0000

A crowd of workers, labor leaders and community activists launched the most determined lobbying effort yet for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act at an April 22 Washington press conference.

AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker stood in front of a crowded hall where she announced that labor will get 60 U.S. senators to shut off a planned GOP-led filibuster against the bill. Standing with her were noted author Barbara Ehrenreich, Jobs with Justice Director Sarita Gupta and President of the National Organization of Women Kim Gandy.

The message was labor and its allies are undaunted by reports that five Democratic senators now appear to be wavering in their support for the legislation.

They appear equally determined not to let other reports, including talk of “compromise,” dampen the enthusiasm of this latest stepped-up lobbying campaign.

One such report was Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, had said, in a discussion with the Washington Post’s editorial board, there could be changes in one key provision, majority sign-up, to get the bill passed.

A quote to that effect, attributed to Stern, appeared in one of the newspaper’s blogs, not in the Washington Post itself.

“We are on the hunt for a solution,” Stern was quoted as saying. “No matter what you do, you have to change the union recognition election process. Whether it’s majority sign-up or not, workers have to have a choice about having an election.

“The bill has to address fast elections, eliminating employer behavior and what happens if there are employer violations… We sort of have a bill that talks a lot about majority sign-up and nothing about the problems of the election system.”

AFSCME President Gerald McEntee disagreed strongly at a separate telephone press conference on April 23. “It is too early to compromise,” he said, adding “We’re asking for the president’s help and support on lobbying senators to break any filibuster.”

A source at AFSCME’s headquarters in the nation’s capital told the World that the unions are asking Obama to put pressure on both Colorado senators, both Arkansas senators and on Ben Nelson of Nebraska, the five “wavering” Democrats. Labor, civil rights and other organizations are also pursuing the senators with petitions, letter-writing campaigns, TV ads, and active lobbying efforts.

Sixty votes are needed to kill the GOP’s planned filibuster. The Democrats hold 58 seats, the GOP 41, with one vacant. When Al Franken, the winner of the election in Minnesota, is seated, the Democrats will have 59.

The one Republican who was a supporter and a co-sponsor of the bill, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, withdrew his support and says he will back a filibuster.

McEntee said there are other GOP senators worth pursuing but declined to name them.

Judging by what labor is doing around the country, it is safe to bet Maine’s two Republican senators, Susan Collins and Olympia Snow, are high on that list.

The Steelworks and other unions are campaigning in Maine and workers from that state are lobbying in Washington almost daily. Maine has lost 23,000 of its 81,000 factory jobs from 2000 to 2008. Whatever part of that astounding 28 percent job loss that has been replaced, consists mainly of lower-paid service jobs. All the more reason, workers say, that a bigger labor movement is needed in their state.

Holt-Baker, Ehrenreich, Gandy and others at the press conference all stressed that Employee Free Choice is indispensable, not just for workers’ right, but also to any economic recovery.

“Workers must be at the bargaining table when there is prosperity and even more so when there is pain,” Holt Baker said.

Ehrenreich said even “in the best of times, before the recession, the dot-com bust and 9/11, we still had a group called the working poor, and it was 25 percent of all full-time workers.”

Gandy said, “It is workers at the lowest end who need unions the most – minorities, women and low-income people – and they are the ones most likely to be frightened by the intimidation, firings, harassment and threats employers use against unions in organizing campaigns. Majority sign-up would eliminate the bosses’ ability to intimidate them in this way.”

Furthering the argument that the poor need unions the most, Heidi Hartmann of the Institute for Women’s Policy research said, “Income gains have been mostly at the top since 1973. The reasons are a decline in unionization, and the shift in the economy to retail and service, away from manufacturing. One fifth of service workers in retail make $10 an hour or less. A second fifth, in leisure and hospitality, make comparable wages.”

Hatmann called for “unionization, in combination with a re-emphasis on manufacturing – only this time making ‘green’ goods such as solar panels, hybrid cars and power-generating huge windmills. This will lead to higher wages and a re-invigorated economy.”

Home child care providers are paid so little, theyre losing homes, cars

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 01:46:00 +0000

LANSING, Mich. — They are 40,000 strong and they feed, clean, and teach Michigan’s young, in their most formative pre-school years. And for doing such an important job, what do they earn? “In Wayne County, we earn $1.66 an hour for each child,” said Daisy Jackson, an American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees organizer from Detroit.

In addition, Jackson said, the books, food and toys these home-based child care providers supply each day are “on your own dime.” Not to mention the wear and tear on their home and furnishings.

The child care providers are paid by the state of Michigan. In 2006, under the joint leadership of the United Auto Workers and AFSCME, the 40,000 home-based providers were organized into a new union: Child Care Providers Together of Michigan (CCPTM). They won wage increases of 8 percent for each of three years, but due to the state budget crisis, the state Legislature hasn’t allocated the funds to pay for the raises that were negotiated and agreed to.

To win justice, providers from throughout the state descended on the state Capitol here April 21. They visited every member of the state Senate and House and demanded what was rightfully theirs.

Herbert Sanders, the union’s AFSCME director, said, “There was a promise made and that promise hasn’t been kept. That’s why we are here today.” He argued that monies from the federal stimulus package, targeted for child care, are sufficient to fund the contract.

Grant Grace, the UAW coordinator for the union, told the child care providers gathered here, “For too long the state has not respected what you do. We keep our word, we raise the next generation,now we want the state to keep their word.”

Providers Becky Hardesty and Lu Hilden, from Flint and Owosso, respectively, stated their case effectively with each official they visited.

“We do a very important job — taking care of children,” said Hardesty. “We are so far below poverty level — the [state budget] cut cannot come from us. We have providers losing homes, phones and cars.”

Hilden told the lawmakers that some children don’t thrive with institutional day care and really need the attention and atmosphere a home setting provides. But when home care providers earn so little, she said, it is getting to the point where some won’t take state-funded children. “Children are treated special in home-based care and that option is being threatened,” she said. “Strong providers make strong children — and less children ending up in foster care and the penal system.”

Northwest Detroit resident Violet Meadows is one of those strong providers. She currently takes care of five children but is licensed to care for up to eight. She has provided for children since 1994. “Word of mouth” helped to advertise her child care. Meadows said the children begin to get dropped off at her house at 8 a.m. and may be picked up 10 or 12 hours later. She joined the union because she had a brother and nephew, employed in the auto industry, who knew that being in a union was “good,” she said.

Meadows is a person any parent would want taking care of their children. She takes the children on field trips and to restaurants to teach them how to behave in public and to eat properly. She tells them they can be anything they want in life: doctors, nurses, teachers and lawyers. She helps them plant a garden in her backyard.

When Katrina devastated New Orleans, she took the kids to a big box store and gave them $5 each to buy items for a care package.

Jonathan Fung, from Interfaith Worker Justice, traveled on the bus from Detroit. He summarized the incredible contradiction child care providers find themselves in. They “are some of the most unappreciated workers in Michigan,” he said. “What is more important than caring for our children?”

jrummel @ pww.org

May Day, a great time to discuss labor unity

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:08:00 +0000

May Day is a great time to think about labor unity.

It is not a static thing. Labor does not “arrive” at a final place called “unity.” Labor unity, like the broader fight for working class unity, is a constant journey. It is a continuous march up hills and around obstacles. At times it is a difficult hike over rough terrain, through rain, snow and sleet, against powerful headwinds. Talk about bad weather: think eight years of George Bush and 30 years of unbridled corporate attack on organized labor. Nor is labor unity a big abstraction. Labor unity is motion. It is action and direction with purpose. It flows out of hard work around issues and program. Real labor unity is distilled from shared experience and estimates.

What I’m trying to get at here is that the current disunity in labor today is more a matter of form than of content. Yes, there remains a formal split in labor between the AFL-CIO and the Change to Win unions. But at the level of action there is incredible functional unity. While there is no formal statement of a united labor program, one clearly emerges on the action level. All of labor is united around a program of action that includes:

• Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.

• Sustainable economic recovery that creates jobs and income.

• Solutions to the housing crisis that keep workers in their homes and provide affordable housing for working families.

• Real health care reform that is comprehensive and universal.

• Sustainable development that creates “green” manufacturing and other jobs and that protects and repairs the environment.

And just last week there was the incredibly important joint announcement of a unified approach to immigration reform by both federations and the National Education Association. This was not just a statement of agreement. It also signaled labor unity and support in action for the Obama administration’s call for Congress to act. Further it underlined labor’s determination to actively work to influence the debate and legislation in a direction that not only protects immigrant workers’ rights, but also promotes wider labor unity.

Labor’s experience with the 2008 elections has been critical on the road to unity. No one seriously challenges labor’s key role in electing President Obama, changing the balance in Congress and ending the far-right Republican grip on power. But while we celebrate the incredible role labor played in the elections, we also have to note the powerful influence the wider overall Obama movement had on labor. Work with the broader progressive coalition around Obama not only illustrated the power of unity, but also further developed the sophistication of labor’s independent political action while training thousands of new rank and file activists. Corporate, right-wing hysteria around the Employee Free Choice Act stems in no small part from their fear of this political awakening in the labor movement.

Labor unity is driven by all aspects of the class struggle itself. It is not just a question of will-power or of “correct” understanding and thinking. Unity is driven by the economic crisis. It is driven by the attacks on autoworkers. Labor unity is driven by job loss, the struggles of the unemployed, housing foreclosures and right-to-work laws. It is driven by attacks on immigrant workers and on workers’ rights, by racist attacks and discrimination against women. It is driven by inadequate health care and lack of funding for education. And labor unity is driven by all attacks on democracy. As the class struggle intensifies, the driving pressure for unity builds. The fierce urgency of now is building labor unity today.

Of course there are still real problems. We cannot stick our heads in the sand and ignore the current crop of inner union turmoil and infighting. But in each of these situations there is a struggle at the grassroots for unity, democracy and rank and file rights. These are issues that will be settled internally. The dominant, overall trend towards greater unity in labor will be a powerful influence in these situations.

Nor can we ignore the thorny structural and leadership questions that still hold back the creation of a single house of labor. We can, however, be assured that the overall pressures for unity are also driving the current talks between the AFL-CIO, Change to Win and most of the independent unions.

As we celebrate this May Day, we can and must redouble our efforts to promote the broadest possible labor unity. Not through abstract agitation, but by digging into action on the burning issues facing labor and the people. So much is happening at the local grassroots level. Every central labor council demonstration or rally for the Employee Free Choice Act, every joint action on any of labor’s issues is a powerful force for unity. Every act of solidarity, every picket line, every labor convention and conference, every tie we help build between labor and labor’s natural allies, every labor-community coalition strengthens and builds labor unity.

This May Day, the weather forecast is good. No matter how difficult the unity road ahead for labor, for the first time in a long while the wind is at our backs.

Scott Marshall (scott @ rednet.org) chairs the Communist Party USA’s Labor Commission. Read Labor UpFront — the Labor Commission’s blog, at laborupfront.blogspot.com.

Coops and the global financial crisis

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 08:53:00 +0000

Cooperatives have been more resilient to the deepening global economic and jobs crisis than other sectors. ILO Online spoke with Hagen Henry, chief of the ILO’s Cooperatives Branch.

The ILO is the International Labor Organization, created in 1919, as part of the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I, to reflect the belief that universal and lasting peace can be accomplished only if it is based on social justice. The ILO brings together governments, workers and employers, as the world's only tripartite multilateral agency. It is dedicated to bringing decent work and livelihoods, job-related security and better living standards to the people of both poor and rich countries.

ILO Online: Why does the ILO promote cooperatives?

Hagen Henry: The ILO views cooperatives as important in improving the living and working conditions of women and men globally as well as making essential infrastructure and services available even in areas neglected by the state and investor-driven enterprises. Moreover, values that are at the heart of the cooperative movement are central to creating decent jobs. Cooperatives are close to a democratic, people-centred economy which cares for the environment, while promoting economic growth, social justice and fair globalization. Cooperatives play an increasingly important role in balancing economic, social and environmental concerns as well as in contributing to poverty prevention and reduction.

ILO Online: What is the impact of the current global economic crisis on cooperatives?

Hagen Henry: Available information suggests that, with few exceptions, cooperative enterprises across all sectors and regions are relatively more resilient to the current market shocks than their capital-centred counterparts. However, as for other enterprise types, the situation of cooperatives with regard to the crisis varies with the degree of dependency on demand and external financing, the degree of their diversification and also with the sector. We just commissioned a study, which will provide us with further, more in-depth information.

ILO Online: Can you give us a concrete example?

Hagen Henry: At the peak of the crisis cooperative banks were faced with an increase in membership and savings deposits and found it difficult to respond to this sudden growth in demand. So far cooperative banks have not announced any significant losses due to this crisis. Nevertheless, losses incurred by the German central bank of cooperatives (DZ), itself a stock company, show how cooperative banks could put themselves at a financial risk. In this reported case, cooperative specific control mechanisms were either not in place or failed. However, most cooperative banks have lessened their vulnerability and increased transparency mainly by investing in their proximity and in the real economy. Ethiopian coffee growers seem to be less affected by world market fluctuations than coffee producers who are not part of cooperative specific value chains.

ILO Online: Cooperative banks are more resilient to the financial crisis?

Hagen Henry: No cooperative bank seems to have applied for state aid so far. As the German example shows, this may not be interpreted as them not having been impacted negatively by the crisis. But self-help mechanisms, like member liability to further call, inter-cooperative bank guarantees, or reserve liabilities are being used before applying for external support. Both in the US American credit union system and in the German cooperative banking system these mechanisms have prevented member customers from losing any money ever since the Great Depression was over. What’s more, bankruptcies of cooperatives due to the crisis have not been reported, nor have employee lay offs.

ILO Online: Do the financial crisis and the new perception of cooperatives represent an opportunity for the ILO and its constituents?

Hagen Henry: Cooperatives are not “just” another form of business, they are not enterprises “en miniature”, but a specific, value-based business model for all sizes and activities. Just to mention famous examples like KPMG, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Best Western hotel chain, AP, which are all cooperatives. The crisis has led to a self interrogation about the right business model. Cooperatives are one interesting alternative model. They put a premium to longer term sustainability and profitability, to sharing benefits between their members who are the capital owners and the main users (lenders, borrowers); they factor in the needs of the local community, are highly transparent and – fundamentally - have a social agenda which does not prevent them from being sustainable and profitable at the same time.

ILO Online: What is the economic and social impact of cooperatives worldwide?

Hagen Henry: The top 300 cooperatives in the world in terms of turnover are of the size of the GDP of Canada. In Colombia, Saludcoop, a health co-operative, provides health care services for 15.5 per cent of the population. In Ethiopia, 900,000 people in the agriculture sector are estimated to generate part of their income through cooperatives. In France, 9 out of 10 farmers are members of agricultural co-operatives; co-operative banks handle 60 per cent of the total deposits and 25 per cent of all retailers in the country are co-operatives, while in Japan 9.1 million family farmers are members of cooperatives who provide 257,000 jobs. In India, the needs of 67 per cent of rural households are covered by cooperatives, and in Switzerland, the largest retailer and largest private employer is a cooperative.

ILO Online: How can the ILO support the promotion of cooperatives?

Hagen Henry: Policy makers must ensure that laws and administrative practices (registration procedures, taxation policies, accounting standards, capital standards for financial institutions as well as the ability to access funding, etc.) do not hinder the development and growth of cooperatives. Just to give an example of a highly complex problem we face: In some countries, women still need the permission of their husbands to join agricultural cooperatives. ILO Recommendation 193 on the Promotion of Cooperatives provides guidance on cooperative policy and legislation stressing the need for a level playing field for cooperatives and other enterprises. It also provides guidance on how to ensure that cooperatives are managed and audited according to their specific features and that education and training curricula include cooperatives.

Related stories

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Farmer/labor coalition formed basis of U.S. coop movement

AT&T announces $3.2 billion profit, continues stalling in contract talks

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 05:55:00 +0000

CHICAGO - While announcing a $3.2 billion quarterly profit April 22, AT&T officials remained silent about their intransigence in ongoing contract negotiations with the Communications Workers of America union that involve 100,000 workers in the company’s wireline unit. They have been working without a contract since April 4.

The company said the bulk of its profits are due to its wireless and broadband operations. CWA President Larry Cohen said, in a phone interview, however, that, “Wireless and broadband cannot exist without wireline. Building and maintaining the network are a critical part of the company’s business plan. It’s the CWA members at AT&T who keep the network running.”

Workers are keeping open their option to strike and voted overwhelmingly, earlier this month, to authorize a strike if a fair contract isn’t reached.

The company claims that any deal would have to shift much more of the costs of health care onto the shoulders of the workers. The union says the company proposals would result in many workers seeing a doubling or tripling of their healthcare costs. “AT&T should pursue national health care coverage if it wants to cut its health care costs,” Cohen said.

Pat Yearly, who lives on Chicago’s South Side, worked for AT&T for 35 years before he retired. “After all their money making they want to cut the pay of their loyal workers by making them pay more for health care. I’m going to call that rat CEO direct. I have a bad arm and a bad leg because of all that I put into that company. I’d like to see Randall (the company’s CEO) climb those poles and crawl around in those holes.”

A technician who had just opened an AT&T junction box on the corner of Coles and E72nd St., April 23, told the World, “Working outside like this, we are exposed to the weather all the time. They’re not cutting management’s health benefits and they sit inside all the time. If anything, that’s reason that we should get better, not worse benefits. “When we have major problems like a slice in a main line you could be working 30 hours straight in a nasty-assed man hole. And you know where the duty manager is? He’s either in a truck looking at us with the heater on, staying warm and cozy, or he’s at home sleeping in bed.”

AT&T is the seventh largest company in the world. It posted $12.9 billion in profits last year.

Candice Johnson, an official spokesperson for the CWA, said it would be an opportunity lost if the company did not work together with the union for health care reform. “This is a much better approach that the short sighted one of shifting the cost to the workers,” she said. “National health coverage will save AT&T some $600 million and will increase shareholder value by $5 billion.”

The CWA represents 80,000 AT&T workers in addition to the 100,000 AT&T wireline workers. Altogether, the union represents 700,000 workers in communications, media, airlines, manufacturing, public service and health care.

Illinois workers fight racist, anti-union harassment

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 07:00:00 +0000

BEDFORD PARK – Workers at Commercial Forged Products (CFP) have had enough. After signing a new contract last year, 60 members of USWA Local 2154 have endured a constant stream of attacks and African American and Latino workers have been targets of racist harassment. They are mounting a fight back for workplace dignity and equality.

Chicago Jobs with Justice and other labor, community and religious activists joined the workers on a spirited picket line in front of the company recently while jets from nearby Midway airport thundered overhead.

“I’ve been here for 14 ½ years, said Charles Gilyard, Local 2154 president. “The last three years the company has decided to attack the workers on civil rights. They have no concern for individual rights.”

Gilyard described how a former plant manager once held up a hangman’s noose to an African American worker. “This is what I used to do when I lived in Mississippi,” the manager told him. The company, which once had a majority African American workforce, also tried to remove the MLK holiday and civil rights committee from the new contract because African American workers were no longer the majority. This upset all the workers, African American, Latino and white. They also saw it as a scheme by the company to sow division.

The workers went on strike when the company sought contract language to limit the local union’s president leave to one term in office, whether re-elected or not.

“They wanted to weaken our union,” said Bob, a retired white worker. “Charles Gilyard is one of the best presidents we’ve had. The company hates him because he’s a fighter.”

Said Gilyard. “And I have fought for the rights of the workers and cost the company a lot of money. They want me out.”

Over 150 grievances have been filed against the company in the last three years. In the 11 other workplaces that make up the amalgamated local, only 80 grievances have been filed.

Workers also charge the company with ignoring the contract including bypassing the seniority system. On the day of the picket line, the older workers were sent home early while the younger ones were kept working.

“They don’t use the contact, said JC Moore, who has worked 36 years at the plant. “We came back (from the strike) to a lot of hostility. They said it was a ‘new day’. They broke into lockers, stole legal papers, picked people they wanted to work. “All we want is the right to be treated equally and to make a fair living regardless if you are Black, Hispanic or white,” said Moore.

“One of the managers wants to run the company like it’s his manor, said Jose Leon, a 5-year employee. “There are cameras inside. Workers are afraid to go to the bathroom and to talk to each other.”

Lorenzo McDonald brought greetings from the Illinois Federation of Teachers. He said the raw racism “sent me back to a place I’ve never been – the 1950s. That’s a shame. That’s why Barack Obama is in office – people want a change.” Scott Marshall, an activist in SOAR told the crowd, “To see this crowd of Black, Brown and white united saying no to racism gives one hope in the future. This is the face of the future.” Marshall urged everyone to fight for the Employee Free Choice Act to counter the attacks of the company.

A leader of the UAW Region 4, Mark Haasis, called for greater solidarity. The UAW was under attack too, he said. “I hope you’ll stand with autoworkers and whenever there’s a fight we’ll be there with you.”

“No more rich getting rich on the back of the workers,” shouted Pastor Chisholm of the Englewood Pastors Association. “We will stand united. God will support us.”

Chicago Coalition of Black Trade Unionists president Robert Simpson also joined the picket line. Simpson told the World the company “was trying to turn back the clock. But we fought too long and too hard and we bled too much. You can’t just take away rights and not expect them to fight. CBTU will stand with workers fighting anywhere and everywhere.”

CFP is a division of Wozniak Industries, a $100 million family owned business and maker of parts for John Deere and other farm implement companies.